Robert Reich

Robert B. Reich, a co-founder of The American Prospect, is a Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. His website can be found here and his blog can be found here.

Recent Articles

AP Photo/Cliff Owen Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos speaks at The Economic Club of Washington. W hile America was fixated on the most tumultuous midterm election in modern history, Amazon reportedly decided that its much-vaunted “second headquarters” would be split between Long Island City in Queens and Crystal City, across the Potomac from Washington, D.C. What does Amazon’s decision have to do with America’s political tumult? Turns out, quite a lot. Amazon’s main headquarters is in Seattle, one of the bluest cities in the bluest of states. New York and metropolitan Washington are true-blue, too. Amazon could have decided to locate its second headquarters in, say, Indianapolis, Indiana. Indianapolis vigorously courted the firm. Indianapolis is also a Republican city in a bright red state. Amazon’s decision wasn’t based on political partisanship, but it reveals much about the real political and economic divide in America today. Amazon’s business isn’t just selling stuff over the internet. It’s...

AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during her weekly news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. D onald Trump says the midterm elections are a “referendum about me.” Of course they are. Everything is about him. Anyone who still believes the political divide runs between Republicans and Democrats hasn’t been paying attention. There’s no longer a Republican Party. The GOP is now just pro-Trump. Meanwhile Trump is doing all he can to make the Democratic Party the anti-Trump Party. “Democrats,” he declares, are “too dangerous to govern.” They’re “an angry left-wing mob,” leading an “assault on our country.” Never before has a president of the United States been so determined not to be president of all Americans. He’s president of his supporters. Tyrants create cults of personality. Trump is beyond that. He equates America with himself, and disloyalty to him with insufficient patriotism. In his mind, a giant “Trump” sign hangs over the nation. “...

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) Members of the group Herndon Reston Indivisible hold up letters spelling "vote them out" during a protest of the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court on October 6, 2018, outside of the White House. Y ou are the largest, most diverse, and progressive group of potential voters in American history, comprising fully 30 percent of the voting age population. On November 6, you have the power to alter the course of American politics—flipping Congress, changing the leadership of states and cities, making lawmakers act and look more like the people who are literally the nation’s future. But you need to vote . In the last midterm election, in 2014, only 16 percent of eligible voters between the ages of 18 and 29 even bothered. Now, I understand. I was young once. You have a lot on your minds—starting jobs, and careers, and families. Also, unlike your grandparents—some of whom were involved in civil rights, voting rights, women’s rights, the anti-...

AP Photo/Andrew Harnik President Donald Trump speaks at a rally at Alumni Coliseum in Richmond, Kentucky. I keep hearing that although Trump is a scoundrel or worse, at least he’s presiding over a great economy. As White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow recently put it, “The single biggest story this year is an economic boom that is durable and lasting.” Really? Look closely at the living standards of most Americans, and you get a very different picture. Yes, the stock market has boomed since Trump became president. But it’s looking increasingly wobbly as Trump’s trade wars take a toll. Over 80 percent of the stock market is owned by the richest 10 percent of Americans anyway, so most Americans never got much out of Trump’s market boom to begin with. The trade wars are about to take a toll on ordinary workers. Trump’s steel tariffs have cost Ford $1 billion so far, for example, forcing the automaker to plan mass layoffs. What about economic growth? Data from the Commerce Department...

AP Photo/Susan Walsh President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. A nyone still unsure of how (or even whether) they’ll vote in the midterms should consider this: All three branches of government are now under the control of one party, and that party is under the control of Donald J. Trump. With the addition of Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court is as firmly Republican as are the House and Senate. Kavanaugh was revealed as a fierce partisan—not only the legal advisor who helped Kenneth Starr prosecute Bill Clinton and almost certainly guided George W. Bush’s use of torture, but also a nominee who believes “leftists” and Clinton sympathizers are out to get him. He joins four other Republican-appointed jurists, almost as partisan. Thomas, Alito, and Roberts have never wavered from Republican orthodoxy. Neil Gorsuch, although without much track record on the Supreme Court to date, was a predictable conservative Republican vote on the Court of...